On Sunday, Ryan and I headed to NJ to join Mom-Mom for lunch for Mother's Day... Little did I know that "lunch with Mom-Mom" actually meant surprise bridal shower... We get to Mom-Mom's and I walk in and turn the corner to hear "Surprise!!" and see all of Ryan's aunts, my sister, stepmom and Becky (and of course, Ryan's mom, sister and Mom-Mom who I knew would be there). Ryan's mom and sister had planned a surprise bridal shower for me at Mom-Mom's house. I could not have been more shocked to see everyone there! My future mother-in-law and sister-in-law are VERY sneaky!! Who knew!!?? I was so excited and after I took a moment to catch my breath and have a glass of sangria, I was ready to party. We had some lunch -- turns out Ryan wasn't really lying to me about having lunch with Mom-Mom because I guess I really did get to have lunch with her after all. After we ate, I got to start opening the many wonderful gifts that everyone brought! What fun!! I got some really great things (too many to list on here), and I CANNOT wait to use them all! After the gifts were opened, we got to have cake and many other treats. The cake was amazing - my favorite -- yellow cake with strawberries and whipped cream (yum!!). There were also chocolate-covered strawberries and peppermint patties with my new monogram on them (that sure looked weird - I hadn't even thought about what my monogram would be yet!). In addition to all these yummy treats, Aunt Sue made these really cute cookies that were shaped and frosted like wedding dresses. They are so cute I can't bring myself to eat them! Ryan had one tonight and said it was really good. And... as if they hadn't done enough, there were awesome favors - cute little gift bags with M&M's in them with either "Wendy's Shower" or "5.18.08 Congrats" written on them. I can't bring myself to eat those either! This could also be the fact that I'm on sugar overload from all the cake I ate yesterday... The bridal shower was so much fun and I had absolutely no idea that it was coming! Everyone seemed to have a great time and I am so thankful to Linda and Alexis for taking the time to plan such a beautiful party. With each day that passes, I realize how lucky and blessed I am, and could not be more excited to be marrying into such a great family that has welcomed me with open arms!! Life is good.
I have included some pictures below of the festivities.
Me and Mom-Mom
The amazing cookies made by Aunt Sue... I promised not to post any pictures of her in this blog, so instead, I thought I'd share the cookies!
Lots of yummy treats = Bad Biggest Loser Week for Wendy (For those of you who haven't heard yet, the bridesmaids and I are doing a biggest loser competition. I am definitely not winning after all the sweets I ate this weekend, but those sweets were soooo worth it!!)
Me and Linda L. (Ryan's mom) - Looking hot in her little black dress!
Me and the bridesmaids
Me and the other beautiful Linda (Linda C. - my stepmom)
And... for everyone's entertainment, I have included the most embarrassing picture I think I have ever taken. They claimed that my bouquet needed to be worn as a bonnet - I think they were all lying to me just so they could take this picture. Oh, and in case anyone is worried that the bandaid on my forehead is because Ryan is abusing me... No need to worry - it's just covering up stitches from having a mole removed.